Is it even possible?

Question

My boyfriend and I went and looked at rings after talking about getting engaged for a many months. He keeps saying how much things are ( he does make good money but why break to bank)

I think the main reason why he keeps putting it off is because hes scared to tell me he really just doesn't want to spend money. And is scared to tell me NO when I say I have to have this!

Can you do a nice wedding....about 150-160 quest with about a 3,000-5,000 dollar budget?

We want to do a pot luck kinda thing with just close family (grandparents and a few aunts) bring a dish and have a big roast.

cheap kinda casual wedding dress and him wear shorts and a sandals for a beach theme....or do a fall theme

we live in western pa

Answer 1

Congratulations, and yes, you can!

My fiance' and I are having a unique, elegant, and beautiful English Garden wedding for $5,000. We plan on roughly 200 guests, and a 15 person wedding party.

Sit down with your fiance', and create a wedding vision--what do you see, hear, taste, feel, and smell?

After that create a budget that would suit that vision (i.e. the $5,000 you are considering), and a savings plan to suit the budget. You MUST have a budget set before buying so much as a roll of ribbon, and STICK TO IT.

After the budget is set, a savings plan needs to be made. Each of you should figure out how much you make every month, subtract your expenses, and see what's left. From there decide on an amount to save. With such a short time frame, savings will be crucial.

Set up a notebook with dividers for Ceremony, Reception, Music, Traditions, Guest List, Attendants, Attire, Venues/Vendors, Biling/Receipts, etc to keep yourself organized.

Set up an account with The Knot (it will save your sanity, I promise!)

Choose a color palate. I went to a local paint shop, and chose my colors from their paint chips =]

Start booking venues and vendors about one year in advance. The time may need to be longer or shorter depending on the area in which you live.

Start researching dress styles and cuts you like.

I found these books to be extremely helpful:

Wedding Planning for Dummies (a Christmas gift from my parents, haha).

Priceless Weddings for Under $5,000

The Knot's Guide to Wedding Planning

I used them in conjunction with these websites (I couldn't give direct links due to Y/A's new limit on links, sorry!):

www.theknot.com

www.offbeatbride.com

www.marthastewart.com

www.weddingbee.com

www.diybride.com

www.etsy.com

www.thingsremembered.com

www.exclusivelyweddings.com

Here's my list of budget tricks:

There are so many ways to cut the costs of weddings, you just need to decide on three things that are paramount to the day, and compromise on the rest. For example, photography, ceremony venue, and reception venue were the three where we put the most money.

Ceremony: Have an early ceremony (around 2 o'clock).

*Your guests will have already have eaten lunch, and won't be expecting a huge meal. You then can serve light food such as finger food and desert. This is the only way that my fiance' could manage to feed our 185-200 guests without going way over our budget.

Wedding dress: I found a beautiful gown at http://www.groupusa.com/ for a little more than $300 (my splurge). They have beautiful gowns by wonderful designers from affordable to extravagant.

*Try places like GroupUSA and even eBay for knockout deals.

I just found this eBay store http://myworld.ebay.com/gianinarbridal

One dress is $39! Brand new. Add $89 in foreign S&H, and you still have a great deal.

Bridal Jewelry: I found my crystal necklace and earrings at an antique shop for $6, and my Crystal Collections headband from Wal-Mart for $12. Originally I had been looking at genuine jewelry from big name stores, but decided to scrimp here to save money for the wedding gifts my fiance' and I plan to get each other.

*Don't forget retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target. My headpiece, earrings, and necklace came to a total of $18.

Wedding location: I had four choices, a lovely place on the property of a family friend, the beautiful garden of a local inn, a church that has a SMALL fee and goes well with my wedding style, or on the mountain where my grandparents' grew up, married, and live.

*Look for unconventional venues; they'll be cheaper or even free. I opted for the for the garden for my English Garden theme.

Reception Site: I have two options here, one of which is the brand new mansion-style library in our town. It would cost only $199 ($100 refundable damage deposit, and $40 for a library worker to stay on site). The other would be our local arts building of the town center. They have several large and beautiful rooms and are roughly the same amount as the library.

*The same rule for venues applies here.

Caterer: My fiance' and I are spending between $300-$400 on food trays, desert, cupcake tower, and a candy buffet for our large number of guests. A chef friend will be preparing two dishes as well.

*Friends and family can really cut down on wedding expenses!

Cake: A friend of my fiance' and I is a baker, and would only charge us the price of the ingredients for our cupcakes.

*If you don't have anyone who can provide this. Go for a two or three tier cake, and then have sheet cakes to cut for the bulk of the guests. That way you end up saving several hundred dollars. You can also have a two-tier cake, serving that only to wedding party, parents, and grandparents and serve guests with a cupcake tower.

I'm simply having a three tier cupcake tower and forgoing the cake.

Flowers: I am making my own bouquets. Flowers for a 30-stem wedding bouquet, toss bouqet, six 20-stem bridesmaid bouquets, arrangements, and 18 centerpieces (five flowers a vase would only run $288 before shipping costs from http://www.theflowerexchange.com. I am having a family friend do the arrangements for a fraction of the cost.

*Do as much as you can on your own! Http://www.theknot.com has videos and step-by-steps on how to make your own bouquets and arrangements. UPDATE: the cost will go down since I am having a bridal bouquet made by Princess Lasertron, and the bridesmaids will carry six ribbon-tied gerbera daisies.

Favors: Forget them! Most of the guests toss those expensive trinkets, anyway.

*Instead I am making a candy buffet--something even my smallest guests would enjoy. You need a small table, glass vases shapes and sizes, candy from a bulk store like Sam's (in your wedding colors, if you like), scoops, and little bags or favor boxes. Mine will come to about $50-$60.

Children: Do you want children at your wedding, but want the adults to enjoy the reception worry free?

*If so, enlist a teenage niece, cousin, or friend. They may help as a wedding present, or simply be happy with $50 or so. They can keep the children happy and occupied with toys or color books in another room. Alternatively have the kid's table covered in a paper table cloth with crayons at each place setting.

Invitations: You can purchase nice paper, envelopes, and an emblem, and an ink cartridge and make your own for about $50. OR you could go to http:///www.invitationsbydawn.com.

She has great deals and some of them come to a total as little as $100.

*Instead of $250-$350! Do what you can on your own, or look for budget-conscience resources like the one above.

I am making my own invitations using beautiful, old postcards from the early 1900s. One-of-a-kind, over a century old, and inexpensive at a total of $90, if not less.

DJ: My fiance's brother is a DJ, and will save us $975 by doing the reception as a wedding gift.

*If you don't have someone like this, consider cutting the cost by having premade CDs of the music you want, and have someone man the player.

Attendant Gifts: Try places like http://www.exclusivelyweddings.com

*I found my 7 attendants gifts for $35, because they were having a sale on freshwater pearl and silver bracelets =] I am making them each gifts to suit their personalities as well.

Centerpieces: Something simple. If you're having a fall wedding, vases filled with slender branches painted gold or silver is beautiful and inexpensive, and branches of berries can be added for winter. Spring or summer, simple vases with a few flowers.

*I found short, square vases and am putting five gerbera daisies in each. Total cost for 19 tables is $99, and they look gorgeous!

If you ever need anything, let me know =] I love to help!

Answer 2

It's all possible

I like the whole potluck thing and its great that its just inner-circle

As for the dress, you can do that too. L'Patricia and Forever21 have cute dresses that are under $200. You could even find your dress at a bazaar and still look cute  ( :

Answer 3

Ur in luck. I live in wpa also(pittsburgh area). I do weddings favours.Let me know what ur looking [e-mail]

Answer 4

Yes  - it is possible.

Try and find a friend or family member that can take pictures.

Look for a dress on craigslist.org. Lots of dresses that have only been worn once.

Favors and decorations are available often too through CL.

Use a computer with mp3's and some speakers through a receiver for a DJ and see if you can have a friend do that as well.

Remember to acknowledge people that help with the wedding with a gift or gift card in lieu of payment.

Print your own invitations.

Do hors d-ouevres instead of a dinner.

Look to see if you can buy your flowers wholesale.

Have someone you know do you hair.

Skip the manicure and pedicure and do it yourself.

Look for a pavillion or park that doesn't charge a lot for use of the facility and rent chairs and tables if you have to.  

Answer 5

I dont see any reason why you couldnt do it.  Check online at Davids Bridal and Fashion Bug.  They both have nice wedding dresses for less than $200.00.  And alot of the time, Davids has their $99.00 sale.  You could also check to see if any of the bridal shops in your area allow you to rent a dress rather than buy one.  You could do the invitations yourself using your printer and jut buy blank invitations, which you can get at WalMart or any party store.  The potluck idea is great, because that will save you ALOT on food.  For flowers, check with your local grocery store.  They usually have flowers that are just as nice as the flower shops, but will charge half as much, same goes for the wedding cake.  Hope this helps!

Answer 6

yes you can,

you can have the wedding in someones backyard, make your invetations, and wedding favors ( i'm making little bag that i'm gonna putHershey Hug and Kiss in tulle and added a note that read ';Hugs and Kisses from the Mister and Missus'.), you can also make your own decorations for the tables ( a bowl with colorful rocks and a candle on top buy fake flowers from walmart and put it around the bowl), etc.

im doing the same thing and have the same budget im also gonna buy my dress online but try it in the store to make sure it looks good on me: http://www.littlecoral.com/  

Answer 7

yes i think you could do a wedding for that amount. for my wedding, we had 180 people and it was $8,000. there are little things you can do to cut costs. for example, for centerpieces, we bought vases from the dollar store and we bought some cheap fake flowers to put in them. i think they looked nice and it was very cheap!

http://www.silkflowers365.com/uploaded_i...